The second annual Clay Tarter Memorial Invitational track meet is this Friday and Saturday at Cottonwood Flats.
Because of the number of entries, the event has been expanded to two days with the 5th-8th graders running Friday morning and the high school teams running Saturday morning. There were more than 900 runners in last year’s event.
The meet is held in honor of Clay Tarter, an icon among the local cross country and track programs for more than 40 years before passing away.
Tarter’s teams produced nine state titles. He also coached four state champion athletes, three academic state championship teams, and had 14 state runner-up finishes.
Over the years, Tarter earned numerous honors, including: Guthrie High’s Teacher of the Year (1983, 2005, 2007); Oklahoma Cross Country Coach of the Year (1993, 2003); the Guthrie Athletic Hall of Fame induction (1994); National High School Coaches Association’s Regional Cross Country Coach of the Year (2008); the Oklahoma Track Coaches Hall of Fame induction (2010); and the Oklahoma Coaches Association’s Cross Country Coach of the Year (1982, 1983, 2010).
In addition, he was a Top 10 finalist for National Coach of the Year for boys cross country (2010), and received the National Federation of State High School Association’s Coach of the Year and Sectional Award honors in 2012.
Friday’s events will begin at 8:40 a.m. with mixed junior high varsity girls in a 1.5-mile race with a limit of seven runners per school. The boys race will follow at 9:05. The 7th grade girls and boys will then run at 9:30 and 9:55, respectively, at the same distance.
Eighth graders take over at 10:20 and 10:45 a.m., while 5th and 6th grade runners compete at 11 and 11:15 a.m. on a 1-mile course.
O n S at u r d a y, the event begins at 8 a.m. with an open 1.5mile run for community members. The varsity high school teams then get things started around 8:45, with the girls first and the boys to follow around 9:15 on the 5K (3.2 miles) course. There will be a limit of 10 runners per team. The junior varsity teams will then run at 9:45 and 10:15 to wrap up the day.
There is plenty of parking and spectator areas along the course.